The History of the World in 100 Objects

A group of curators aimed to tell the history of the world through 100 objects culled from the British Museum’s collections. The result was unveiled on a BBC Radio 4 program in early 2010, and the BBC and the British Museum published a book of the series, “A History of the World in 100 Objects.” The book is being published in the United States on Monday.

This double-headed serpent Aztec figurine from Mexico (A.D. 1400-1600) is made of about 2,000 small pieces of turquoise set on a curved wooden frame. More items from the collection are on the following slides, with descriptions excerpted from the book.